Magazine: PAINTING WAR – WWII German Army (Season 1, Issue 1)

This magazine may have been out for a bit. However, it only came to the notice of my friends and I at our local gaming convention, Enfilade. The magazine is a production out of Spain (www.breakingwar.com) and is exceptionally professionally done – full color, 74 pages and chock full of painting tips for all skill levels. The meat of the book, which highlights miniatures from Artizan, Crusader, Warlord, Mike Broadbent and José Luis “Porta”, shows off 36 different WWII German figures painted by Rubén Torregrosa (“Heresy Brush”). The book does offer much more than that – it shows how to paint WWII German uniforms, equipment and faces using the 3-color technique made famous by Kevin Dallimore; the Foundry paint system is designed around this technique.

Painting Tips

The main uniform/equipment/skin colors, shades and highlights are recommended by Mr. Torregrosa using Vallejo paints; the actual step-by-step process is demonstrated with pictures of his painted figures in the first part of the book. Six different camouflage patterns/schemes and painting white winter clothing are discussed in step-by-step detail for ease of learning/painting; these pages hold incredible resources of painting advice. While most of the issue is devoted to painting 28mm miniatures, the author does discuss how to paint 15mm WWII German figures and the differences between the two scales. More pictures support the camouflage and 15mm painting techniques. There are four pages devoted to rank insignia for Heer, Luftwaffe and Waffen SS as well as guidance on Waffenfarben (the colors of the different branches of service; e.g. seen around the edges of epaulettes on uniforms). The rank information was not the most useful of pages as the information on these pages, but could be found elsewhere and many painters only appear to paint rank on officers without depicting different enlisted markings on the rank and file; I will admit that I found the waffenfarben page interesting. What is missing in this book is information related to how he bases his beautifully painted figures.

The majority of the book, a grand total of 56 pages, is devoted to showing off individually painted figures spanning September 1939 through April 1945 in all theaters where the German army served. While Mr. Torragrosa’s early war figures display the green and gray uniform combinations, the specific colors used are not discussed. Each page shows a beautifully painted figure with the recommended Vallejo colors for the uniforms, equipment and flesh (note: the letters “GC” refer to “Game Color”). This is an amazing resource for painting the German army of this period. The recommendations for painting flesh remain the same for soldiers located in Russia and Norway in winter as they are in North Africa during the summer. The absolute “gold” on these pages are the various “Painting Tips” where Mr. Torregrosa shares many cool suggestions for painting that help give the figures more “oomph”: the sponge technique to represent chipped paint on helmets (to show the base color under camouflaged desert yellow or winter white), unique suggestions on painting metals, uniform details, camouflage patterns and even something as simple as highlighting the color black. Mixing it with pink for subtle highlights? Whooda thunkit? The visual results are unmistakable amazing. On the page is a also a small insert entitled “Did you know…?” where tidbits of information are shared; these sometimes little known facts are mildly informative but more discussion about how the specific figure was painted might have been useful.

Painted Figure Example

The visual information in this book is striking. One aspect that caught my eye that I have not heard discussed in other reviews is the almost total absence of pages of advertising – 6 text pages were devoted to advertisements! In the section devoted to individually painted figures, there are no commercial interruptions from start to finish – a real commitment to displaying the specific miniatures. I have seen this listed for as low as $27 and is an excellent treat purchase or birthday/holiday gift – if you can find it in stock!